SOCIAL RIGHTS
A step towards the local democracy in Sfax
Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. Participatory budgeting (PB) involves an annual cycle of meeting and voting. It becomes part of the broader budget decision-making process. PB changes the way government works.
Tags: City Finance, Citizen Participation, Social Inclusion
Challenges addressed
- Territorial Equity
- Accountability of elected representatives
- Transparency in decision making
- Sustainability of the projects
- Efficiency in the expenditure
Main objectives
- Public involvement and commitment
- Representative democracy
- Make an inclusive process
- Meet local needs
Facts
Project type Economy and Budget
Promoter Sfax Municipality
Start date 2015
Budget 3.000.000 TND / 25 projects selected
Project description
The participatory budget process held in Sfax was organized to decide the priority of some local investments. Its amount was around 3.000.000 TND, and the priorities to be discussed were road pavement, public lighting and sidewalks and its paving. A communication campaign and awareness
actions were carried by the municipality.
The process began with A call adressed to the different NGOs, around 40 answered and committed with the process. The municipality organized the distribution of the territory in a sort of neighbourhoods which were the ones that had to discuss in citizens forums which projects had to be included in the budget.
The participants brainstorm ideas with the help of support the municipality technicians, decided the most interesting projects and their priority with the help of facilitators to avoid the protagonism of more skilled people. During two days the participants had to discuss the priority to be assigned to the shortlisted projects and, finally vote for the ones to be included in the municipal budget, as well as a representative that had to present their ideas.
Consequently, with the forum conclusions of the different neighbourhoods a list of projects to be included in the municipal budget was established. Around 25 projects were selected throught way.
Impact and results
- 2000 participants
- 73% Men 27% women
- 25% between 18-35 years old
- Economy and Budget
- Accountability of the local representatives
- Public participation and involvement
- Awareness of the decision-making process
